Simply put, we’re in transition, we’re turning into something else,” Albarn said of the album’s narrative. “The album kind of came from this dark fantasy. Just imagine, the weirdest, most unpredictable thing that changes everything in the world. How would you feel on that night? Would you go and get drunk? Would you stay at home? Just watch TV? Would you talk to people?”

The album was written several months before America’s presidential election, but following Donald Trump’s surprise victory, Humanz took on an entirely different meaning. “I suppose we were imagining the idea of Donald Trump. It’s not about Donald Trump at all. But it was imagining that in a way. That was our dark fantasy, and unfortunately that became our reality.”